FREDERICK GEORGE GIBBS

Frederick is not remembered on the war memorial at Christchurch Park.

Born: 23rd August 1922, at 71, York Road, Ipswich.

Died: 6th January 1944; age: 21; killed by a Japanese sniper in Burma.

Residence: “Rodeo” Windrush Road, Kesgrave, Suffolk.

Rank: Corporal; Service Number: 5832886.

Regiment: Queen’s Own, Royal West Kent Regiment, 4th Battalion.

The body was originally buried at Akyab War Cemetery. On the 3rd June 1952, the body was exhumed, identified and reburied at Taukkyan War Cemetery.

Grave Reference:

3.D.18.

Taukkyan War Cemetery,

Myanmar.

Relatives Notified & Address: Husband of Stella Valerie Gibbs, of Ashford, Kent.

Nephew to WILLIAM GIBBS.

Father: Harry Gibbs, born June 1897, 103, Felixstowe Road, Ipswich – died 24th April 1925, of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, at “Rodeo” Windrush Road, Kesgrave. His brother-in-law Alma George Downing (husband of Harry’s sister, Emma), a fishmonger, of 186, Felixstowe Road, Ipswich was at his bedside.

Mother: Mary Gibbs (nee Whatmore), born June 1897, Lambeth, London. Mary and her sisters, Louisa and Ellen, spent their childhoods in and out of the Newington Workhouse. They were eventually split up and Mary spent her teenage years at the Industrial School, in Plymouth, Devon.

Sister: Dorothea Lilian Gibbs, born 1919, in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Brother: William Walter Gibbs, born 1924, “Rodeo” Windrush Road, Kesgrave. William Gibbs was killed in action on the 15th April 1945, aged 20 years. He was ranked a Corporal, 6921574, for the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. The body was originally buried at Beckedorf, Germany. On the 13th August 1946, the body was exhumed, identified and reburied at Becklingen War Cemetery, Germany. William is also remembered on the British 11th Armoured Division Memorial, in France.

In 1942, Ashford, Kent, Frederick married Stella Valerie Couzens, born 1922, in Croydon, Surrey – daughter of Ewart Charles Couzens, an insurance agent, and Mabel Dorothea Couzens (nee Thompson), of Capel Road, Ruckinge, East Ashford, Kent.

Stella and Frederick had one son:

Brian Anthony Charles Gibbs, born December 1943, Ashford – died 14th January 1944, Ashford.

Frederick and William Gibbs are remembered on the war memorial at Kesgrave, Suffolk.